Disclaimer: Yah yah, don't own, don't sue, don't flame.

A/N: Alrighty, I've decided this is...NOT going to be a slashy fic. Sorry all, maybe I'll make one later though in the near future... By the way, I'm open to suggestions via comments.

again, *asterisks* mean thought since I don't have Word and have to write on stupid Notepad...*grumble*

AND I STILL NEED A BETA! *cough*....enjoy.

Chapter 2: Stratagem

"Hey, Remus, you ok?"

Remus Lupin snapped out of his daze when he felt the hand of one Sirius Black on his shoulder. He looked up at his rather tall friend and gave a wary smile. "What...?" he said quickly, noticing that both James and Peter were looking at him as well.

Sirius was a tall and spontanious companion with dark hair that fell to his shoulders and eyes just as dark. James was about the same height as Remus, unruly black hair and dark hazel eyes. Peter...well...he was the shortest of all of them. Rather a mousy kind of boy, with pale blonde hair and a shrunken figure.

"I asked if you were alright..." Sirius repeated, raising an eyebrow and giving Remus a curious look. The werewolf cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine," came his reply as he continued pace to the Great Hall. His thoughts were still back to last night, and as he tried to sleep he could hear his friends already rising.

"Is is about..." Sirius' voice trailed off slowly as they reached the wooden doors to the Hall, yet Remus knew what he meant. He shook his head for two reasons; one being that it wasn't about his 'condition' (as he so vividly puts it) and two being to drop it now that they were in the company of listening ears. Of course, the first part was only half true, yet he didn't say anything about it. Yet.

The four took a seat near the end of the Gryffindor table just as the breakfast appeared. Peter, probably the most anxious of them all, dove right in to serve himself ungodly portions of eggs and bacon. "Gentlemen," Sirius said in his 'attention-over-here' voice, "Ladies," he added glancing at Peter pointedly as he stuffed himself with sausages. He paused only to growl at Sirius, but didn't say anything as he continued to eat.

"The plan will commence. We have to do this quick before the winter break, mind, so I suggest sometime this week..."

Remus looked up at Sirius curiously while James was clapping as if his friend had just declared world peace. "Wonderful! I can't wait to see the look on our slimy friend's face!"

At this point everyone (i.e. the four of them) all glanced at the Slytherin table. There, a pale dark haired boy stood out like a sore thumb, especially sitting next to his platinum blonde friend, Malfoy. Severus Snape took a second to glance at the four Gryffindors before looking back at his food muttering to Lucius.

"Wait...what plan?" Remus brought their attention back to the table infront of him with this question directed to Sirius. However, initially it was intended to the other two as well, since they seemed to know what was going on. "Oh," Sirius paused to look at his friend. "Well, I don't think we should talk about it in broad daylight..." he said seriously as if taking on the role of some noble General in battle.

"Well, then I guess I was in broad daylight when you discussed it," Remus countered with an annoyed look.

"Exactly!"

Sirius, James, and Remus all glanced at Peter who cowered back as though he said something upsetting. Which was actually half right. "Just eat, Peter..." Sirius said with a sigh, looking back at the two.

Remus didn't say anything in reply, he just looked down at his food and remained quiet. Guessing that he was trying to drop the subject, Sirius went back to talking animatedly with James. *Why wouldn't they tell me? They've always told me before...* Apparently he had been frowning or something to that effect, because he felt a nudge from James. "Hey, don't look so down, kay?"

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"I don't know, guys, maybe we should tell him?"

While Remus was presumably in the library, the remaining three Marauders held a conversation in the Boys' Dormatories. "Peter, if we told him, the obvious answer would be 'no'...I mean think about it, he's always touchy about that subject," James and Peter both nodded in agreement to the statement made by Sirius. "I just feel bad plotting something behind his back...it's almost as bad as pulling the prank on him," Peter mumbled looking at the ground.

"Hey, when will we ever get another oppertunity to do this? This is the chance we've been waiting for! Maybe he'll get bitten if we're lucky."

The three sat in an uncomfortable silence for what seemed like hours, until James broke the silence. "Remus won't even know about it, Peter. He'll forget about it eventually...and I'd also like to thank -Sirius- for bringing it up at breakfast." He nudged the latter in the ribs pointedly. "Almost blew our cover..."

Remus backed away from the doorway of the Boys' Dormatories crestfallen, retreating back to the library.

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A/N: Alright, very sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but I'll make up for it in the next one! I promise! Just...um...comment? It's the little button down there *points*

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